Jun 21, 2008

Epicurious?

Last Sunday on the way home from church, we were trying to have a friendly conversation with our driver. Even though he takes us to the city every weekend, we can't talk to him much because he doesn't speak English, and we speak very little Chinese. Ellie told him that Jacob had gone to Jiangxi the previous week, and he perked up at that. What follows is a rough translation of the ensuing conversation:

Driver: Jiangxi! Oh, they have excellent dog there. Did Jacob eat any?Ellie: Jacob, did you eat dog?Jacob: No, they offered, and I told them I would try it, but they ended up not ordering it.Ellie: No, he didn't eat any.Driver: Oh, that's too bad. It is very good.(For about 10 minutes, he continued to extol the joys of eating dog. Then came the really funny part.)Ellie: What kind of dogs do Chinese eat? Little ones or big ones?Driver: Oh, big ones of course. Little ones do not taste good. Little ones are only good for pets.Ellie: Are all big dogs tasty?Driver: No - only the ones with pointy ears. Ones with floppy ears do not taste good. To make sure we understood this very important point, he demonstrated with his hands, showing us both what the floppy ears and the pointy ears look like.

Up until this point, it had been a very serious conversation, but when he told us that dogs with pointy ears tasted better than dogs with floppy ears -- combined with his demonstration to make sure we understood those two words -- we all started laughing. He started laughing as well, so I know we didn't hurt his feelings.

Words can't really describe just how funny this was... We were all laughing so hard that we were crying.

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About Me

Mama to a lively girl. Wife to a selfless husband. Smitten with my sweet dog. Lover of orphans and justice and mercy. Trying to love others as I am loved. Moved to the West Texas desert after 4 years in the Chinese desert. (And I'm not particularly fond of deserts.) Though I've had a big world shift this last year, I'm learning to see His goodness right here and right now... even when it sometimes seems like nowhere.